Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Schizophrenia Awareness Week Brain Cell Transplants
17 November 2013

Brain Cell Transplants

The most prominent characteristics of schizophrenia – the so called ‘positive symptoms’ - include hallucinations and delusions, and are linked to how the brain chemical dopamine is regulated. Medication typically blocks dopamine activity, but in a very non-specific way, like a sledgehammer knocks down a wall. Studies on rat brain can help to better understand the fine-tuning of the system. Here pictured are false-coloured dopaminergic neurons from rat brain. A recent study showed that transplanting healthy brain cells into a rat model of schizophrenia helped to reduce hyperactivity in the dopamine system, which could lessen the positive symptoms.

Written by Brona McVittie

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.